The Sport of Kings has its day after a 37 year drought. As with most debates involving sports, there are varying reasons for the absence of a Triple Crown champion over the past 37 years. It has as much to do with bank accounts as bloodlines, yet trying to pinpoint the main reason is as elusive as the achievement itself.

NEW YORK (AP) — By mid-stretch, Bob Baffert said he knew it. American Pharoah was going to win the Triple Crown.

He took his eyes off the horse to soak in the crazed scene of the packed grandstand. Fans jumped up and down, hugged, and tossed drinks in the air.

The race wasn’t even over yet, but the crowd knew it, too. Thirty-seven years of waiting to see one of the rarest feats in sports was almost over.

"The crowd was just thundering and I was just enjoying the crowd and the noise and everything happening," the white-haired trainer said. "What a feeling."

Finally, a Triple Crown winner. And this one was never in doubt.

American Pharoah led all the way to win the Belmont Stakes by 5 lengths on Saturday, becoming the first horse since 1978 to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes — one of the sporting world’s rarest feats.

"Wow! Wow!" jockey Victor Espinoza (age 43) said moments after crossing the finish line. "I can only tell you it is just an amazing thing."

The bay colt with the unusually short tail, chewed of by another horse, easily defeated seven rivals in the grueling 1 1/2-mile race, covering the distance in 2:26.65 — sixth-fastest in Belmont history — to end the longest stretch without a Triple Crown champion in history.

"That little horse, he deserved it," said Baffert, who at 62 is the second-oldest trainer of a Triple Crown winner. "He’s the one that did it. We were basically just passengers."

American Pharoah is the 12th horse and first since Affirmed in 1978 to win three races on different tracks at varying distances over a five-week span. He won the Derby by one length on May 2 and then romped to a seven-length victory in the rainy Preakness two weeks later before demolishing his rivals Saturday.

Baffert and Espinoza ended their own frustrating histories in the Triple Crown. Baffert finally won on his record fourth Triple try, having lost in 1997, 1998 (by a nose) and in 2002. Espinoza got it done with his record third shot after failing to win in 2002 and last year on California Chrome.

"I was prepared for somebody coming because I’ve been through this so many times," Baffert said.

Nobody did.

Espinoza hustled American Pharoah to the lead leaving the No. 5 post and quickly got him over to the rail. Materiality was on his outside in second, but never applied any serious pressure traveling along the backstretch before falling away on the second turn.

American Pharoah started kicking away heading into the final turn. He opened up on the field as he powered through the 1,097-yard stretch, displaying his fluid, springloaded stride in which he appears to float over the ground.

"It’s just an amazing feeling that you have when you’re 20 yards from the wire," Espinoza said. "And then at the wire I was like, `I cannot believe I did it.’"

American Pharoah ran the final quarter-mile — a stretch that has dashed numerous Triple Crown dreams — in 24.32 seconds, faster than Secretariat’s time of 25 seconds in winning the 1973 Belmont.

"That’s a hell of a horse," said jockey Gary Stevens (age 52), who finished seventh aboard Tale of Verve. "The race was over in the third jump from the gate."

After making his way back to the crowd, Espinoza took American Pharoah nearly the length of the sprawling grandstand so fans could pay their respects to the champion.

As the horses were heading to the starting gate, owner Ahmed Zayat was overflowing with confidence and turned to his wife.

"I told her, `Get ready to be the owner of the 12th Triple Crown winner,’" he said.

Baffert felt equally good, sensing American Pharoah was on the verge of a winning performance when he saddled the horse in the shady paddock.

American Pharoah is the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, but his biggest payday won’t be on a race track. It will be in stud fees.

Prior to the Belmont, when he just had Kentucky Derby and Preakness wins, it was estimated that he would collect $60,000 to $75,000 per foal, so that kind of stud money means most successful racing careers are short.

California Chrome, who won the Derby and Preakness last year, hasn’t been put out to stud yet since his blood lines aren’t as prestigious. His stud fee is probably in the the neighborhood of $25,000.

So his owners decided to race him for another year. He went to the Dubai World Cup where he placed second, scoring another $2 million in winnings.

It’s amazing to think that Secretariat’s Belmont time would’ve beaten American Pharoah by 15 lengths.

A new bill introduced in the Nevada state legislature earlier this week would allow owners to give their ailing pets medical marijuana. Many owners across the country said it’s about time, and that “pot for pets” should be legal everywhere.

Becky Flowers, a California ranch owner, said she gave her mare Phoenix regular doses of medical marijuana for several years to help ease the pain of a degenerative joint condition. The horse could barely walk due to extreme swelling in her front legs that traditional and herbal medications didn’t seem to help, Flowers said.

“She would lay there for days and she wouldn’t eat or drink,” Flowers told ABC News.

Flowers said she considered having the animal euthanized but decided as a last ditch effort to give her some of marijuana legally prescribed to her husband who is a paraplegic. In less than an hour, the horse was up and moving, Flowers said.

PHOTO: Becky Flowers gave her horse Phoenix, right, medical marijuana to help ease the pain of a chronic joint condition.

Flowers began giving Phoenix about a tablespoon of medical marijuana in oil every day, she said, noting that the horse lived largely pain-free for two more years before dying in her late twenties. Since then, Flowers has given marijuana to some of her other horses and has recommended it to other horse owners as well.

Medical marijuana does show some promise for easing the pain and suffering in animals, but veterinarians and owners should proceed with caution, said Dr. Robert Silver, president of the veterinary botanical medical association.

“There needs to be a lot more research and education taking place before we introduce this to pets,” Silver said, who is a veterinarian in Colorado, a state where both medical and recreational marijuana are legal for people.

Studies show that dogs in particular react differently than humans to THC, one of marijuana’s active ingredients, Silver said. Because they have a high concentration of THC receptors in the back of their brains, they are susceptible to severe neurologic effects and toxic reactions, he added. States where medical or recreational use is legal have seen an increase in canine emergency room admissions associated with the drug, Silver said.

The American Veterinary Medical Association does not have an official stance on the use of medical marijuana with pets but suggests that vets make treatment decisions based on sound clinical judgment that stay in compliance with the law. They note that even in states where medical marijuana is legal, it is still a Class I narcotic under federal law which means vets are not legally allowed to prescribe it to their patients.

If passed, the Nevada law would allow animal owners to get marijuana for their pet if a veterinarian certifies the animal has an illness that might be helped by the drug. The proposal is in its earliest stages and faces numerous legislative hurdles before it could become law. It’s part of a larger bill that would refine the state’s existing medical marijuana law by clarifying penalties for drivers under the influence and allowing the resale of marijuana dispensaries.

Interestingly, cannabis smoking is associated with a 45% reduced risk of bladder cancer in humans and a 47-62% reduced rate of head and neck cancer, regardless of whether or not they had been infected with HPV. And using hemp oils increases the survival success rate of treatments like chemotherapy and radiation by 25%. JOMP~

Medical marijuana and the positive effects of hemp oil are a great breakthrough, help and blessing for many… humans and animals with a large variety of illnesses, including Cancer. But widespread prolonged legal recreational marijuana use, perhaps not so much…

Fox News: LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Orb was so far behind a wall of horses at the Kentucky Derby that even his jockey wasn’t sure he could master the muddy track and make a run for the roses.

"I was really far back," Joel Rosario said. "I said hopefully he can go faster than that. I was saying maybe I was too far back, but it was so easy."

The bay colt made it look that way Saturday, splashing through the slop to win the Derby by 2 1-2 lengths and giving Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey his first victory in the 3-year-old classic.

Long shot Golden Soul was second with Revolutionary third while Normandy Invasion faded to fourth.

Orb, the 5-1 favorite, broke from the No. 16 post and bided his time near the back of the pack early while Palace Malice set a blistering pace in the muck.

Orb was still idling in 16th place a half-mile into the race. On the turn for home, Rosario moved him past 11 horses into striking position in the middle of the track. With a quarter of a mile to go, Orb began picking off the leaders. The only question left was whether he could sustain his momentum on a surface that resembled creamy peanut butter.

"He was very relaxed, it’s exactly what I wanted," Rosario said.

When the field turned for home on the cool, overcast afternoon at Churchill Downs, Normandy Invasion had the lead. But Orb was gearing up and prevailed in the deep stretch, carrying Rosario to his first Derby win.

"Perfect trip. I stayed on the outside I don’t want to be too wide on the first turn. I was hoping somebody in the middle (of the race) didn’t push me wide," he said.

"I’m thrilled to death for (the owners), thrilled to death for the people who put so much time into this horse, and, of course, I’m thrilled to death for me," he said.

Todd Pletcher had a record-tying five runners. Revolutionary was the best of the "Todd Squad," followed by Charming Kitten (ninth), Overanalyze (11th), Palace Malice (12th) and Verrazano (14th).

Goldencents, owned in part by Rick Pitino, coach of Louisville’s national basketball champions, finished a 17th. His jockey, Kevin Krigger, was trying to become the first black rider to win the race since 1902.

Rosie Napravnik was also bidding to make history as the first woman jockey to win the world’s biggest horse race. She finished fifth aboard Mylute, the highest finish by a female rider.

D. Wayne Lukas, who won the Derby four times and would have been the oldest trainer to saddle a winner, sent out two runners. Oxbow, with three-time Derby winning jockey Gary Stevens aboard, finished sixth. Will Take Charge was eighth.

Lines of Battle from Ireland finished seventh, denying European champion trainer Aidan O’Brien the international victory.

The rain that pelted the track earlier in the day had stopped by the time 19 horses paraded to the post for the 139th Derby.

The crowd of 151,616 must have known something, with a surge of late money sending Orb off as the favorite after Revolutionary owned that position most of the day.

Winning co-owners Stuart Janney and Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps scored their first Derby victory. The first cousins are among the sport’s blue bloods that include the old-money Whitney and Vanderbilt families.

Being from Lexington, the heart of Kentucky’s horse country, McGaughey figured to be a regular Derby participant. But Orb was just his second starter since 1989, when McGaughey watched Easy Goer lose to Sunday Silence.

Orb also was the second Derby starter for both Janney and Phipps, whose previous entries were in 1988 and `89. Their family wealth allows them to race the horses they breed, unlike the majority of current owners who are involved through partnerships that split up the exorbitant costs of the sport.

The cousins’ grandfather, Henry Phipps, founded wealth management firm Bessemer Trust in 1907. Janney serves as chairman, while Dinny Phipps is its director. He also chairs The Jockey Club, the sport’s governing body that registers thoroughbreds, while Janney is vice chairman.

StemEquine®, StemPets® and by StemTech Health Sciences, Inc., help support the release of stem cells from the bone marrow of horses, dogs and cats into the blood stream. Through a natural process those stem cells then travel to the areas of the body where they are most needed.

AINTREE, England (AP): The Aintree Festival experienced more grief Friday following the death of another horse over the fences in the Grand National Steeplechase, overshadowing the latest victory by Sprinter Sacre.

Little Josh was destroyed after breaking a shoulder following a fall in the Topham Steeplechase, the fourth race of the day. He was the second horse to die at this year’s festival, after Battlefront on Thursday.

”This injury was not treatable and it was the necessary course of action,” said Prof. Chris Proudman, veterinary adviser at Aintree.

It’s a major blow to organizers who made modifications to the course after four deaths in the past two Grand Nationals and complaints from animal-rights groups.

”We have made significant improvements in safety at the course, but we also recognize that jump racing carries risk you can never completely remove from the sport,” said John Baker, who runs the Aintree course in Liverpool.

Jockey Liam Treadwell was hospitalized after falling from Regal d’Estruval in the same race.

On Thursday, Katie Walsh pulled up Battlefront midway through the Fox Hunters’ Steeplechase. The 11-year-old horse collapsed and died shortly afterward from a suspected heart attack.

Aintree’s restyled fences have been softened by removing wooden stakes and replacing them with a more forgiving plastic material. Critics believe still more needs to be done, with 21 horses having died in races over Grand National fences since 2001.

”Sadly there is a statistical probability that horses will die at the Grand National meeting,” said Dr. Mark Kennedy, head of science at World Society for the Protection of Animals.

He said the risk horses are exposed to in a steeplechase at the three-day Aintree meeting is six deaths in 1,000 starts.

Nigel Twiston-Davies, the trainer of Little Josh, said the horse had ”gone out doing what he loved most.”

”It could happen anywhere, it could happen at home and it’s not the fences – it could have happened at a park course,” Twiston Davies said.

About 30 minutes before Little Josh fell, Sprinter Sacre sauntered to victory over a top-class field in the Melling Chase, taking his unbeaten run over fences to nine races.

Running his first race over the longer distance of 2 1/2 miles, the 1-3 favorite cruised along with jockey Barry Geraghty before taking the lead by jumping the next-to-last fence and accelerating clear of Cue Card to win by about five lengths.

”When you let him loose, like at the second-last, he does it too easily,” said Geraghty, who completed a double for the day by winning the Topham Steeplechase on 14-1 shot Triolo d’Alene. ”The two-and-a-half miles didn’t make any difference. He has plenty of pace and is very versatile.”

Sprinter Sacre has become the superstar of British horse racing since the retirement of the unbeaten Frankel last year.

”He’s got a huge amount of ability and knows how to use it,” trainer Nicky Henderson said. ”I don’t think anybody has taught him about jumping. It is sheer natural talent.”

Sprinter Sacre is unbeaten since switching from hurdles in 2011, and beat a field containing Cue Card, who won a big race at the Cheltenham Festival last month, last year’s champion Finian’s Rainbow and Irish hope Flemenstar.

He was the third straight favorite to win on Ladies’ Day – the second day of the festival – after My Tent Or Yours (4-11) in the Novices’ Hurdle and Dynaste (9-4) in the Novices’ Chase.

The 40-horse Grand National, which is the highlight of the festival, takes place on Saturday.

I’m writing to you today with an urgent plea to help a very special group of wild horses who were victims of the deadliest Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) roundup in recent history.

It was January 2010, when the thundering helicopters descended on the pristine Black Rock Desert in Nevada’s Calico Complex. For the wild horses living there, life would never be the same. The relentless helicopters, chartered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), forced the horses to run for miles. Stallions tried desperately to keep their families together; foals struggled mightily to keep up with their mothers. Finally, they reached the trap. In an instant, their families were shattered; their freedom destroyed.

In the BLM holding pens, Tomahawk, a stallion captured at Calico, hung his head low. General and Commander, loyal friends, huddled together. The tags hung round their necks made clear that these noble band stallions — once great leaders and protectors of their herds – were now just numbers … casualties in the BLM’s war against America’s wild horses and burros.

In total, 1,922 wild horses lost their freedom in the 2010 Calico roundup. Hundreds of them perished in the years following the roundup in government holding pens. An untold number were sold by the BLM to a kill buyer, and almost certainly met with a horrific fate at slaughterhouses in Mexico.

Thankfully, over 100 survivors of the brutal Calico roundup — including Tomahawk, General and Commander — are safe, because Return to Freedom, the founder and parent organization of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, rescued them. The horses are living peacefully in the sanctity of Return to Freedom’s American Wild Horse Sanctuary in the rolling coastal hills of Santa Barbara County, California and at another sanctuary in northern California.

Since 2010, our attention has turned away from Calico toward other roundups and battles. But Return to Freedom must still care for the Calico horses, as well as 300 additional refugees from other federal roundups. The price of doing so is steep. Hay costs alone are $40,000 per month!

For 15 years, Return to Freedom has been on the cutting edge of the fight to save America’s wild horses and burros through its sanctuary, education and conservation programs. Return to Freedom pioneered a sanctuary model that utilizes birth control in order to allow wild horses to live together with their families, in their natural state. And Return to Freedom founded the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, a coalition that is now 50 organizations and tens of thousands of supporters strong.

Please, as we continue this fight, please let’s not forget Tomahawk, General, Commander and all the other beautiful Calico horses. Please help us show Return to Freedom that we stand with them… that we as a community are united our commitment to America’s wild horses both on and off the range.

Stem cells can be thought of as master cells and are most abundantly found in the bone marrow of people and also in your pets. With age, the number of stem cells circulating in the body gradually decreases leaving it more susceptible to injury and other age related health challenges.

StemPets® and StemEquine®, by StemTech Health Sciences, Inc., help support the release of stem cells from the bone marrow of dogs, cats and horses into the blood stream. Through a natural process those stem cells then travel to the areas of the body where they are most needed.

Products are available at wholesale prices for distributors. Becoming a distributor is easy and economical. Distributors have the opportunity for the StemTech product line to be the core of their own home based business.

In addition to StemPets® , Stemtech’s animal product line includes StemEquine® for horses. Stemtech’s line of stem cell nutrition products for humans includes SE2™, StemFlo®, StemSport®, and ST-5 with MigraStem™. These products are designed to work together as a system to provide you with the optimal health.

Our own AskMarion (and her husband Tim) of Just One More Pet and Marion’s Pet Sitting and Dog Walkers give StemPets and StemEquine to their own pets and recommend them to for the pet clients, as well as taking them themselves and recommending to them to their clients pet parents.

Save a Life…Adopt Just One More…Pet!

Everyday we read or hear another story about pets and other animals being abandoned in record numbers while at the same time we regularly hear about crazy new rules and laws being passed limiting the amount of pets that people may have, even down to one or two… or worse yet, none.

Nobody is promoting hoarding pets or animals, but at a time when there are more pets and animals of all types being abandoned or being taken to shelters already bursting at the seams, there is nothing crazier than legislating away the ability of willing adoptive families to take in just one more pet!!

Our goal is to raise awareness and help find homes for all pets and animals that need one by helping to match them with loving families and positive situations. Our goal is also to help fight the trend of unfavorable legislation and rules in an attempt to stop unnecessary Euthenization!!

“All over the world, major universities are researching the therapeutic value of pets in our society and the number of hospitals, nursing homes, prisons and mental institutions which are employing full-time pet therapists and animals is increasing daily.” ~ Betty White, American Actress, Animal Activist, and Author of Pet Love

There is always room for Just One More Pet. So if you have room in your home and room in your heart… Adopt Just One More! If you live in an area that promotes unreasonable limitations on pets… fight the good fight and help change the rules and legislation…

Save the Life of Just One More…Animal!

Recent and Seasonal Shots

As I have been fighting Cancer… A battle I am gratefully winning, my furkids have not left my side. They have been a large part of my recovery!! Ask Marion

Photos by the UCLA Shutterbug are protected by copyright, Please email at JustOneMorePet@gmail.com or find us on twitter @JustOneMorePet for permission to duplicate for commerical purposes or to purchase photos.

By JoAnn, Marion, and Tim Algier This past week, we lost our dear family member Rocky who had just outlived his “huep – na-napbdad”, Tom, by just a few months. His perspective would have been interesting!! Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been […]

By JoAnn, Marion, and Tim Algier This past week, we lost a dear family member, Rocky, who had just outlived his “human pet-dad”, Tom, by just a few months. It certainly would have been interesting to know what they thought and what experiences they had had in common!! Just this side of heaven is a […]

Bristol Palin: Fellow SixSeeds blogger Zeke Pipher has a great question: If they were dead puppy parts, or parts from homosexual babies, or babies that self-identified as adults, it’d be a different story. Meaning, it would be a story. But as it is, the fact that these fetuses don’t look like puppies, and their sexual […]

Family and friends of G.R. Gordon-Ross watch his private fireworks show at the Youth Sports Complex in Lawrence, Kan., Friday, June 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner) Mercury News – Originally posted on July 02, 2013: The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. Hot dogs, potato salad and, of course, fireworks. But Independence […]

Very few dogs have the experience of being parents these days and especially seeing their litters through the process of weaning and then actually being able to remain part of a pack with at least part of their family. Apachi is our Doggie Dad. He is a Chiweenie and here he is is watching his […]

By Marion Algier – Just One More Pet (JOMP) – Cross-Posted at AskMarion Anderson Cooper met Chaser, a dog who can identify over a thousand toys, and because of whom, scientists are now studying the brain of man’s best friend. Chaser is also the subject of a book: Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of the Dog […]

By Tamara – Dog Heirs – Cross-Posted at JOMP Quebec, Canada – Animals will be considered “sentient beings” instead of property in a bill tabled in the Canadian province of Quebec. The legislation states that "animals are not things. They are sentient beings and have biological needs." Agriculture Minister Pierre Paradis proposed the bill and […] […]

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Great Book for Children and Pet Lovers… And a Perfect Holiday Gift

One More Pet
Emily loves animals so much that she can’t resist bringing them home. When a local farmer feels under the weather, she is only too eager to “feed the lambs, milk the cows and brush the rams.” The farmer is so grateful for Emily’s help that he gives her a giant egg... Can you guess what happens after that? The rhythmic verse begs to be read aloud, and the lively pictures will delight children as they watch Emily’s collection of pets get bigger and bigger.

If You Were Stranded On An Island…

A recent national survey revealed just how much Americans love their companion animals. When respondents were asked whether they’d like to spend life stranded on a deserted island with either their spouse or their pet, over 60% said they would prefer their dog or cat for companionship!